Visegrad Film Forum 2015
The 4th Visegrad Film Forum 2015 is only one week away. From March 11th to March 14th Bratislava will host Christopher Newman three-time Oscar winner for sound including horror cult classic The Exorcist. Sicilian directors, scriptwriters Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza, who won two awards at Cannes 2013. Mads Brügger, Danish filmmaker, investigative reporter and TV presenter awarded at Sundance for his debut documentary from North Korea. Ľudmila Cviková independent film curator, script, film funding and festival strategies advisor based in Amsterdam. And Brigitta Bacskai young film editor who will present her work on her debut feature Free Entry, which was shot exclusively during two years of Sziget music film festival in Budapest.
The four-day event will be opened on Wednesday March 11th with a screening of Godfather in the presence of Christopher Newman, who received an Oscar nomination for the film. On the next day Mr. Newman will have an all-day masterclass on sound in film. Both events will take place at the Film and Television Faculty of Academy of Musical and Performing Arts.
On Thursday, screenings will starts at the cultural centre KC Dunaj. First, Hungarian film editor Brigitta Bacskai will introduce her film Free Entry (2014). It follows two young girls on their adventurous journey to adulthood. The action takes place within one day as Betty and “V” sneak into the biggest music festival in Hungary. The film was shot at Sziget Festival two years in a row with a very small crew. Free Entry was awarded the Cineuropa Prize at Cinema City in Novi Sad.
In the evening KC Dunaj will host Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza with their small film Salvo, which won big at Cannes 2013. The next day at the Film and Television Faculty both authors will talk about the journey of their feature debut from numerous script and development workshops to two awards at the world’s biggest festival. They will also mention Torino Film Lab, where they received their first crucial funding which allowed them to go ahead with the project. The talk will be moderated by Torino Film Lab’s Head of Programmes Matthieu Darras.
The talk by both Sicilians will be followed by Ľudmila Cviková, who will share her insight into the world of film festivals, which she gained by working for some of the most prestigious ones in Karlovy Vary, Locarno, Sarajevo and Rotterdam, where she was involved for 15 years.
In the meantime KC Dunaj will screen best animated films that were awarded at the 7th international animation festival Fest Anča 2014. The Friday line-up will be completed by Mads Brügger and his The Red Chapel (2009), a documentary shot undercover in government censored North Korea.
Saturday, the last day of VFF, will be all about Mads Brügger. He will screen his Ambassador (2011) in the Film and Television Faculty’s cinema. After the film he will give a master class on his „role-playing“ method of making documentary films, which allows him to gain access to places closed for reporters using more traditional methods.
There will be screenings of the best films from partner schools every day. VFF participants will get a chance to see films that are made at schools in Eastern Europe and compare their quality. VFF will pair partner schools’ selections to set up friendly battle, where two schools are confronted in one screening block.
Visegrad Film Forum will also organize popular networking afterparties, that will take place every evening at cultural centre KC Dunaj with various artists and Djs from Slovakia and Czech Republic: DJ Beyuz, DJ MtotheG, rock duo Whatever, Prezident Lourajder, Ventolin, Bluesraiders, DJAZZ a.k.a DJ Mikro and Mário Belák. The closing costume party will be thematically focused on popular contemporary TV series.
Visegrad Film Forum (VFF) is a networking and educational platform for emerging film professionals, students with major in film, media or audiovisual studies and film enthusiasts. Through open dialogue, sharing and exchange of innovative experiences it aims to strengthen cooperation among young film professionals. VFF’s main goal of is to set up an educational base focused on film-making issues specific for Europe and to promote quality projects of young filmmakers, allowing them to introduce their work and find partners for their international co-productions. VFF is divided into several sections, including screenings of student films, master classes with renowned experts and case studies of interesting film projects.
Visegrad Film Forum 2015
Application deadline: 7. March 2015
Dates: 11. – 14. March 2015
Place: Bratislava, Slovak Republic / Venues: Faculty of Film and Television VŠMU, KC Dunaj
Accreditation: 30 Eur / 20 Eur with student discount
VFF’s partner Hostel Blues offers special discount prices for accredited participants at 9,90 € per night.